Uvalde officials say local prosecutor impeded investigation into police response to shooting
In a lawsuit filed Thursday, the city of Uvalde says the district attorney is restricting information needed by its independent investigator. Uvalde wants a judge to compel the prosecutor to hand over all relevant investigative information.
,
A law enforcement investigator outside Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, on Wednesday morning, May 25, 2022. Harrowing details began to emerge Wednesday of the massacre inside a Texas elementary school, as anguished families learned whether their children were among those killed by an 18-year-old gunman?•s rampage in the city of Uvalde hours earlier. (Kaylee Greenlee/The New York Times)
KAYLEE GREENLEE, STR / NYT
The city of Uvalde is suing the local district attorney, accusing her of withholding information an independent investigator needs to conduct an internal affairs investigation of the police response to the Robb Elementary School shooting.
City officials hired Jesse Prado of JPPI Investigations LLC to conduct the internal affairs inquiry. The suit filed Thursday names Christina Mitchell, Uvalde County district attorney for the 38th Judicial District, as the lone defendant. It seeks a judge to compel Mitchell, who could not be immediately contacted for comment, to hand over all relevant law enforcement investigative records and materials from all law enforcement agencies.
“The internal affairs investigation by Prado is ongoing, but it is significantly restricted by the scope of evidence available to Prado by defendant,” the suit alleged.
In a statement about the suit, city officials said the Uvalde community had “waited entirely too long for answers and transparency” about the May 24 shooting and the widely criticized law enforcement response.
“Despite the City of Uvalde’s efforts to amicably obtain the necessary investigative materials for its ongoing Uvalde Police Department’s Internal Affairs investigation, the District Attorney has blocked the City’s ability to obtain critical information to assess its officers’ actions and compliance with police department policies and expectations,” they said in a statement. “From day one, the city’s focus is on helping the entire Uvalde community, parents who lost children, children who lost parents, and young survivors navigate through the healing process.”
